M 12.5 miles (6:08mm), 6 miles (6:56mm)
T 11 miles (6:37mm), 5 miles (6:59mm)
W 20 miles including Marathon Session (30 mins, 4X5mins, 30 mins)(5:41mm), 6 miles (6:52mm)
T 11.5 miles (6:34mm), 6 miles (6:56mm)
F 7 miles (6:23mm)
S 22 miles Long Run (6:10mm)
S 12 miles (6:09mm)
Total - 120 miles (6:19mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 938 beats per mile average
Average Weight 140.2 Lbs
After last weekends 30 miler I thought Monday would get off to a slow start but I had one of those runs that just feels effortless despite going at a very decent clip. I just felt really strong aerobically and the legs felt like they were bouncing nicely along. It was to be Tuesday that I would have a decent chunk of DOMS and so the morning's run was a bit more of a plod than the previous day's running. My mind may also have had one eye on the Wednesday session,which was to be the biggest one of the campaign so perhaps I was holding something back to make sure I hit that in reasonable freshness.
Wednesday's session looked particularly daunting. It was to be 30 mins at marathon pace, 4X5mins at cThreshold, and then another 30 mins at marathon pace. I have basically followed a very similar structure to that of Steve Way in his marathon build ups(in fact all of the sessions I've done are exactly the same as his, but slower ;-) ) and what can I say it seems to be working rather nicely as Wednesday seemed to confirm again that I am getting into the shape of my life. Now the race is getting near I cant wait to get out there and try and deliver what I have believed for a while that I am capable of. Anyway the first 30 mins came in at 5:27 pace and then the 5 minute intervals were done at pleasing paces of 5:13, 5:09, 5:08 and 5:03. I decided that I would really push these to try and get the legs nicely tired before running the last 30 minute effort at marathon pace again. Although the last 30 minutes was hard work it was manageable and averaged 5:26 per mile. The whole 20 mile session averaged roughly my current marathon PB pace which is a really positive sign indeed, especially considering about five and a bit miles of it was warm-up, recovery or warm down! I do think I have a crack of going under 2:25 if all goes well on the day.
The rest of the week was OK if not spectacular. The long run was tough after a very long day on Friday. I was up at 4:45 for a run having had a poor night's sleep, then to London for the day and then a late night c2:00am on Saturday morning as my Brother in Law and his wife came to stay and arrived late Friday evening. This was then compounded with rubbish sleep with the baby not too settled. Anyway that's enough excuses, it was 22 miles in 6:10 pace which is pretty good but I just wanted to get it done and didn't enjoy it too much if I'm honest. No more long ones to do now though but I definitely have the endurance to run a good race.
Much to my surprise the aerobic efficiency took another big step forward this week with a drop of 18 beats per mile. I'm really not sure why this was but thinking about it it may be that my heart rate is now just becoming slightly supressed during runs because of the volume of the past couple of weeks. I expect as my legs get fresher over the next couple of weeks and the training reduces my aerobic efficiency may well get slightly less but this should be made up for by the extra freshness the legs have as I approach race day.
Weight has dropped again and I may be in 'danger' of dropping below 10 st for the first time in my adult life (I've had a couple of readings below 10st but am averaging my weight over the week). That said as the training reduces I have to be even more careful about what I'm consuming to make sure it's not too much. The last thing I want to be doing is carrying too much weight around 26.2 miles. The carb load of course will also result in a 3-4lb gain anyway but this will largely be water and glycogen stored in the muscles and liver which will help me run a strong race.
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